Asia Mega Tour II - Cruising Tokyo

After the long lazy days in Langkawi, Wife and I are back in full on travel touring mode. Even though we said that today was going to be relaxed day we still made our way to two of Tokyo's prime areas.

Things started off the night before. Our hotel is a bit weird. It is a hotel frequented by tons of tourists both from Japan and from all over the world. It is the same brand as the one we stayed in Kyoto. Yet is it is located right on the edge of the Tokyo's major red light district which gives everything (especially at night) a slightly surrealistic tinge. An Australian couple told us about a 'Chinatown' that was just a couple of blocks away. We asked the desk staff and it turns out that it is a Shinto Shrine. They were nearly rolling on the floor behind the check-in desk laughing at the thought of Chinatown.

We wandered around trying to find this place and finally stumbled in on it.

The Shinto faith is all about ancestor worship and worship of various spirits

Surely the spirit of the photo guruess inhabits these parts

Of all things we stumbled in on a free outdoor theater performance

Unfortunately it was just ending and we were way in the back of the crowd...and it was in Japanese 😈

Some obligatory pictures of the neighborhood were required

By a totally unplanned happenstance, Daughter #2 who we just saw in Malaysia just days before was in Tokyo to visit an old college friend who was also stationed in Japan. We only realized this when we were together in Malaysia. So we decided to meet up for lunch in the posh Ginza shopping district.

I have to say after the exuberant architecture of Kuala Lampur, I have not been all that wowed with Tokyo architecturally and that particularly went for the Ginza area. 

 But there were still interesting things to be seen

Woman getting her flower shop ready to go

I've been suffering from major asthma issues on this trip and needed cough drops desperately

Yea for the Tomad's Health, Beauty, Sundry and Food & Drink chain. And thanks to Google Translate for a good translation of 'cough drops'!

Then there is the universal picture of the husband traveling with the wife dressed with shoes that are clearly not going to help with the work of moving the suitcases.

I want to know - Does this make you want to buy this brand more?

And who would have thought there could possibly be a store devoted to only Kit Kat!

I mean seriously who knew there were these high end versions of Kit Kat?

There was even this little museum of Kit Kat history

Kabuki Theater

Statue dedicated to the Mother Photographer teaching her acolytes

It be Asia and there be lots of people

Famous statue in Ginza where we were to meet up with Daughter #2 and friend. It was way, way, way smaller than we thought it would be.

Do it yourself reflexology?

Not for me thank you

A building with actual architectural interest

After lunch with the daughter and friend I noticed that Wife did not look good at all

She was breathing in short, panting breaths

Her eyes were dilated

I recognized the symptoms

TEMPLE ADDICTION WITHDRAWAL!!!!

We hadn't been in a temple for over a week since Kuala Lampur

I quickly got us on to the Metro and took us to the Asakusa area and the Senso-ji Temple - the largest in Tokyo

They don't mention, the largest visited as well

Doing one of our favorite things in Asia

Visiting a famous site with tens of thousands of our fellow tourists

Paying their respects through the practice of 'selfie taking'

But then on to the Temple itself

 And in the middle of all this people craziness was this island of calm

Of Course

The Buddha

 And here as elsewhere the cult of devotion to the Buddha of Construction was venerated

We had a number of cool interactions with people

This lady was did the reverse paparazzi and wanted us to be with her children while she took pictures

Clearly she loves being in front of the camera

Daughter? Less so

Son? Not at all

And we met a cool couple from Indonesia - East Java - We took their pictures when they were having trouble getting a selfie ( a paparazzi technique)

We also did a bunch of cruising around in the Asakusa district

Surveillance is tight in Asakusa

 Upon exiting the Metro we caught sight of the famous Tokyo Tower and the Carrot Building (actually I have no idea what it is called. It could be called the Sperm Building for all I know)

And when we got back to the hotel there was this little surprise

We couldn't figure out how they knew until we remembered they got our passport information from us when we registered. Nice touch.

And so with only days left of our Mega Tour

The Travelers